NSA decision has lots of winners — for now

The Obama administration’s legal cease-fire with tech companies in the NSA snooping controversy amounts to an early, unsteady truce: The industry gets to release more information, and the White House looks like it’s being more transparent.

Under terms of the deal, announced Monday, tech giants like Microsoft, Facebook and Google can reveal broad figures about how often they’ve been required to release information to the National Security Agency. And to be clear, the NSA can still go about its business collecting data pretty much everywhere.

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But the fight is far from finished. For starters, the Obama administration still must gird for a battle back on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers have proposed bills that would require even more disclosure of the intelligence community’s surveillance activities. Tech companies, despite their praise Monday, didn’t get all of what they wanted. And civil-liberties advocates, while satisfied with some progress, also see much more work to be done.

If anything, Monday’s settlement marks the calm before the storm — a big step, but just a first step. Here’s a closer look:

Early win for Silicon Valley

The agreement brokered Monday among the Obama administration and Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and LinkedIn will allow them to disclose new, broad details about the National Security Letters they receive and the orders they’re served under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — but only in groups of 1,000 and on a limited, time-delayed basis. Alternatively, companies can combine different kinds of law enforcement requests into one number in groups of 250 orders.

“We’re pleased the Department of Justice has agreed that we and other providers can disclose this information,” the coalition of tech companies said before adding: “While this is a very positive step, we’ll continue to encourage Congress to take additional steps to address all of the reforms we believe are needed.”

The move puts to rest months of legal wrangling between the five companies and the U.S. government before the so-called FISA Court. More importantly, though, the victory means they can disclose at least some new data at a time when many Silicon Valley names are feeling the heat in Europe and beyond — criticism that could result in new market barriers and stronger privacy rules for the sector. Leading up to the announcement, the industry had met with the Justice Department six times prior to the settlement, according to a source following the coalition, without much success. They sensed the sentiment at the White House had changed, however, as the administration’s internal review proceeded — and the leaks from Edward Snowden kept coming, the source added.

White House also gets a win

For the White House, meanwhile, it’s an early victory on the long road to reform.

One administration official told POLITICO the White House backed broad details of the plan in a meeting with its staffers, leaders at the Justice Department, including Deputy Attorney General James Cole; and top representatives from the intelligence community. Even though intel leaders had some reservations — and tech companies sought additional changes — the early White House approval allowed President Barack Obama to mention transparency in his speech last week, according to the source.

“This action was directed by the President earlier this month in his speech on intelligence reforms,” Attorney General Eric Holder and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said when announcing the decision. “While this aggregate data was properly classified until today, the office of the Director of National Intelligence, in consultation with other departments and agencies, has determined that the public interest in disclosing this information now outweighs the national security concerns that required its classification.”

The Hill debate to come

Despite all the praise Monday, the administration’s plan isn’t in sync with Capitol Hill. Many members of Congress have their own, broad surveillance reform bills that would allow Internet companies to detail more data about the requests they receive. Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Jim Sensenbrenner, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) each has proposed to permit greater transparency than the White House has backed.

Adding to the divide: The Obama administration in the agreement included a restriction that prevents Internet companies from revealing surveillance requests for two years when it concerns a new technology, product or platform. No one on Capitol Hill has spoken openly of the idea.

Tech companies, meanwhile, aren’t yet totally sold — and they already have pledged to be active on the Hill. Those five companies, plus others like Apple, AOL and Twitter, also signed onto a broad statement of principles that calls for limits on NSA’s collection of sensitive data in the first place, another major point of disagreement.

Still yet, civil-liberties groups like the ACLU and the Center for Democracy and Technology, don’t see transparency as a solved issue. They want more data disclosed without broad, rounded numbers. The New America Foundation, like its brethren, applauded the announcement — but it said it would continue “our work with the Internet industry and the free speech and privacy community to press Congress and the Administration” for reform.

But one administration official signaled to POLITICO that it’s starting with a strong negotiating position: The agreement Monday is “understood to resolve the question of transparency around national security,” the aide said.